• I'll Only Save Those Who Need Saving! •

"I think this is only natural," Kazuki said flatly, observing a woman being eaten alive by a creature shaped like a ball of flesh with small mouths covering its entire surface. "This world is indeed full of monsters. Besides, this city doesn't have protective walls like the other cities we've visited."

Hanah looked at him in disbelief. "How can you talk so calmly?"

"Let's go to the capital," Kazuki ignored Hanah's question, starting to move forward. "It might be safer there."

They walked along the street filled with corpses and debris. Several horrifying creatures noticed their presence and moved closer with unnatural movements—some crawling at high speed, others jumping like giant frogs. However, every time these creatures approached within a certain radius of Kazuki, they suddenly stopped, their bodies shaking violently before finally turning to attack themselves—tearing, biting, and ripping their own bodies apart until destroyed.

"Are we just going to leave everyone like this?" asked Hanah, "Don't you want to save them?"

Kazuki glanced at the girl briefly before looking ahead again. "Not really. I'll only save those who need saving."

"I don't understand what you mean by that," Hanah frowned, frustrated with Kazuki's cold attitude. "Don't all people need to be saved from a situation like this?"

Before Kazuki could answer, the sound of panicked footsteps was heard from behind them. A man in formal attire, now tattered, ran toward them, his face deathly pale with blood flowing from a wound on his forehead. Behind him, three creatures shaped like skinless dogs chased at high speed, black saliva dripping from their mouths filled with sharp teeth.

"HELP!" shouted the man, his voice hoarse with fear.

Without changing his expression, Kazuki raised his right hand slightly—an almost invisible movement. Instantly, all three creatures stopped abruptly, as if hitting an invisible wall. They writhed in pain in mid-air before beginning to attack each other brutally, tearing and biting until nothing remained but a pool of thick black fluid.

The man stopped running, panting and confused. "Huh? What happened?" He looked back, not believing what he saw. The creatures that had almost preyed on him had now vanished, having destroyed each other.

"Hey, I want to ask you something," said Kazuki, walking toward the man with calm steps.

The man turned toward them, still panting. He was about in his 30s. His clothes, which might have once been an expensive suit, were now torn in several places and stained with blood.

"What's your name?" asked Kazuki without preamble.

"Ah," the man straightened himself, trying to regulate his breathing. "My name is Riokah. I am the ruler of this city and the one who built it."

"Ruler of the city?" Kazuki raised his eyebrow slightly. "You look quite useless for someone who claims to be a ruler."

"What do you mean talking like that, huh?!" Riokah looked offended, his face reddening with anger.

"Hey, don't be so honest like that," Hanah elbowed Kazuki gently, "But he really doesn't look like someone who built a city as beautiful as this."

"Hey, aren't you just like your boyfriend?!" protested Riokah, pointing at Hanah with a trembling finger.

"He's not my boyfriend," Hanah replied flatly.

Kazuki observed Riokah more carefully, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Hey, you're not from this world, are you?"

Riokah seemed surprised by the question. He remained silent for a moment before nodding slowly. "Ah, yes. I'm not from this world. Are you also not from here?" He looked at Kazuki and Hanah alternately. "I have a power. My power is to build/create cities through my mind. But I can't make all these buildings at once. For example, in a day I can only build one or two buildings."

"No wonder this city looks so similar to our original world," Hanah nodded in understanding. "This city must be like this because you're from our world, right?"

"Yes, more or less," Riokah admitted.

"I want to ask why this city became like this," Kazuki went straight to the point, not interested in small talk.

"That..." Riokah swallowed, "A few hours ago, a huge creature suddenly appeared. The creature looked like it was created from flesh merging together. Initially small, but then it kept growing rapidly, absorbing anything it touched—including humans."

Riokah wiped his sweaty and bloody face. "That creature continued to grow until its body surrounded all the buildings in this city, forming a kind of very high flesh wall. That wall trapped everyone inside the city, nobody could get out. And from the body of that creature emerged many strange creatures that you see here—they kill and prey on humans without stopping."

He pointed toward the building walls that were beginning to transform into organic substances. "The presence of that creature also changes anything around it into moving flesh as you can see. That's what happened to this city."

Kazuki looked around, and now he realized that along the entire border of the city there was a giant wall made of moving flesh—like a living fortress that trapped them all.

"Is that the creature you're talking about?" Kazuki pointed toward the horizon, where a giant figure towered high in the distance, exceeding the height of skyscrapers. The creature looked like a tower of flesh with large mouths that continuously opened and closed, swallowing anything within its reach.

"Yes," Riokah nodded weakly, his face pale.

"Can you defeat it, Kazuki?" asked Hanah, her eyes looking at Kazuki.

Kazuki remained silent for a moment, his eyes still fixed on the giant creature in the distance. "My current power cannot control or kill that creature, that creature's level is very different from the creatures here," he finally answered. "It seems this is the limit of my power for now."

"What?" Hanah was surprised. "So you can't kill it?"

"I said 'for now,'" Kazuki corrected.

"What do you actually mean?" Hanah frowned, clearly not understanding Kazuki's words.

Kazuki sighed softly. "I will explain. Right now I'm at level 1, while my former self was at maximum level. Because I'm at level 1 now, this is the limit of my ability at this level."

He looked at the purple sky briefly before continuing. "I placed all my former power in a special room within myself—a room that can be filled with anything. That's where I store my true power."

Hanah and Riokah listened carefully, trying to understand Kazuki's explanation.

"Actually, my level 1 power and my maximum level power are not different in essence. What's different is only the power level. Each level has its own power limit, and now I have reached the limit of my level 1. I've never been interested in finding out the limit of my level 1 self," he explained in a flat tone.

"So?" Hanah was still confused.

"I can kill that creature if I raise myself to level 2," Kazuki explained calmly. "That way, I can defeat that creature."

Hanah began to understand the situation. Kazuki, because he wanted to live as a normal human, had stored most of his power in a metaphysical room he created within himself. His basic power remained the same, what differed were just the limitations—each level had its own limits. And currently, at level 1, he had reached his limit to control that creature, that creature was now above his level one self, if he wanted to kill that creature he would have to rise to level 2.

Kazuki himself never claimed to be human. He just wanted to live like a human, not caring about people who said he wasn't human. For him, identity wasn't something determined by others, but by himself.

"So," Hanah looked at Kazuki seriously, "are you going to level up to level 2 to defeat that creature?"

"You wait here," and with that Kazuki suddenly disappeared from in front of them.

"What the—" they were both shocked by Kazuki's disappearance from in front of them.